Transgender models the norm in Rio
Posted by Lauren Cochrane | guardian.co.uk
Thursday 13 September 2012 09.58 EDThttp://www.guardian.co.uk/fashion/fashion-blog/2012/sep/13/brazil-transgender-models
Carol, a transgender model who worked for L'Oréal, strikes a pose. Photograph: Vice/ Rhys JamesBrazil has the resources to become the next fashion capital, and the international industry is beginning to take notice.
A film made by Vice, as part of its Fashion Week Internationale series, goes behind the scenes of the hype. Host Charlet Duboc finds transgender models as a matter of course, tensions around race and a disconnect between the lean catwalk silhouette and the curvy body type fetishised in the baile funk scene.
The tolerance for transgender women in fashion is particularly striking – Duboc points to Lea T as an example of a Brazilian transgender model who has gone overground, kissing Kate Moss on the cover of LOVE last year, and becoming a muse for Givenchy designer Riccardo Tisci. "I'm not sure if it could get any bigger though," she says. This is especially true with Rio making a bid to become the fifth fashion city. "Out of all the fashion weeks we have covered, Rio is one of the most slick," says Duboc. "They want to sell clothes."
In a bid to fit into a global idea of beauty, admirable points of difference, such as the acceptance of transgender models, may get lost in translation.
WATCH VIDEO:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/fashion/video/2012/sep/13/brazil-transgender-models
